quickpassnmove

I don't think that the fullback for the future has been chosen yet. Does anyone see the 'next D. Alaba' who Chelsea should target immediately? I don't, but I'm also not watching as much football nowadays.

on the topic of Costa, hopefully some of you have seen this video that shows what a d'bag he has been.

My dislike for David Luiz has nothing at all to do with "current form;" David has played well for Brazil recently and at times for Chelsea. He's still capable of having some superb performances at center back for Brazil in the World Cup, I'm sure. But for this player to be in a starting XI every week, he needs to play one position well enough and I don't think he has proven to be reliable at any position. off the topic completely: anyone thinking that he looked good in the Arsenal match should be considering that he had the latitude to do almost anything with Matic next to him and Arsenal down to 10.

thanks for posting this.

I agree with you, Barbara. Willian does look like an overpriced backup player. Schuerrle always looked great on counterattacks for Germany and sometimes for his clubs in Germany. Salah is an excellent all-around attacking player, just needs to adapt to the Premier League under Jose (here's to hoping he does). So, I would say that Torres, perhaps David Luiz, Willian, Marin, Moses were all poor signings. Luiz might turn it around, Willian might turn it around, but at this moment, I would not choose any of them for their transfer fees (blatantly obvious on Torres and Marin the exact moment I heard of the transaction). Hopefully the striker, center midfield and fullbacks positions are filled by quality players, Torres leaves and we can just forget all these mistakes for the future.

I don't know if David Luiz will be staying, but my thoughts on center midfield A. do not involve David Luiz, B. consider a 4-3-3 formation being used regularly in the future and C. account for failure of one or two younger players in center midfield. How it should look, IMO: 5 players, including Matic, vGinkel, Ramires, player X, player Y, Oscar as a sixth backup option -OR- a player from the reserves who is capable as a sixth option. So, yes, Chelsea could avoid buying a 3rd CM if Oscar were used or a reserves player were good enough. I don't know what is going on with David Luiz and Barca, but I know he was thinking about the move last summer during the pre-season tour (from someone who talked with him face-to-face). On the other hand, my opinion of a player is not static. Even though I am ambivalent on David Luiz and don't like his play much, it may be possible to mold him into a good center midfielder. Who in the Chelsea coaching staff is capable of doing this though?

If Aguero were healthy for the rest of the season, I would still be betting on ManCity. Hard to say what will happen.

Get Torres to take a pay cut, send him there for free, buy Costa for the asking price, offer Courtois for one or two more seasons. Just about anything is worth having Burger Van Torres off the payroll.

I'm glad someone can watch Inter Milan and give us an opinion. Every time I've tried to watch Inter, I've been impressed by one defender and/or let-down by the team's overall performance. change the channel.. I do know that they have good players; problem is, the team has rarely impressed me on the pitch. total snoozers. At this moment, I do not have recommendations for center midfielders. K.Strootman was one of my top recommendations previously (we know he went to AS Roma). discussed many superstars and squad players on another online forum; after Chelsea have failed to sign strong CMs for years now, I'm just tired of it. Every window for the past 3.5 years went by and no one really good came to Chelsea until Matic returned. Now Matic is the best center midfielder Chelsea have. Want to run him into the ground? Get some depth and quality, please. My only thought for this summer, for Chelsea is to try for one superstar CM and one strong squad player CM for depth. Right now, we're looking at about 3 players for the CM pair: Matic, Ramires, and vanGinkel. Cannot count Lampard IMO--either leaving or just too slow (never was a strong center midfielder IMO) and Mikel is surely leaving (I can hope). That leaves us with 2 known quality CMs in Ramires and Matic for next season and one unknown quantity in vanGinkel. So, if no one is ready to come up from the reserves and play well enough, Chelsea should probably be buying 3 center midfielders. If one player will come up from reserves: buy two CMs.

I am still dumbfounded by January 2011. Was no one at CFC watching Suarez for Ajax and Uruguay? Did they not see that Torres was not moving as well as in the past? then, send Matic to Benfica for nothing while CFC have nothing in center midfield. As much as Chelsea certainly need a striker (and I'm still not much of a Lukaku fan), I am still equally concerned about center midfield.

very nice. I was more excited for the 1st two goals when it was 11 v 11. On another matchday, I would have loved to see an even-strength 3-0 or 4-0 win. I guess if Eto'o weren't injured, the goals may have continued even with 11 v 11. congrats to Chelsea for getting a clean sheet. Rosicky was their most dangerous player and a couple of decent cracks. I agree with the voting as it is on the 3 stars of the match for Chelsea. but I picked Matić.

Matić.

you mean, you think I'm a master scout for watching England v. Ukraine, Ukraine-Sweden a couple years ago or some S. American international matches? do I get a badge for seeing an international player whose name you can't pronounce play more than 3 matches?

On every online forum... always people who don't know the top international players.

waste of money. already have that kind of player. need center midfielders, fullbacks and a strong centre forward.

-----------Cech--------------- Azpi-Cahill/Zouma--Terry---Shaw/? -------player X--Matic----------- Yarmolenko----Hazard----Cuadrado -----------Costa-------------------------

ask someone who has seen him play more than me. I think he's an all-around center midfielder, but I don't know if he can pass like Gerrard or someone top-quality. but, he has played full-back and various midfield roles (like Gerrard). hoping someone here has watched him more. I'm going to watch more of Udinese when I can.

best summer window: one fullback, two center midfielders, one top striker, Mikel out, Luiz out, Moses out, Marin out. in a dream: Torres leaves seems to me that Chelsea would have done better last summer buying two center midfielders, or 3 if Mikel were sold, also buying Yaromalenko instead of both Schuerrle and Willian. another fullback might have helped too. not sure if was possible to get a good CF last summer aside from maybe Cavani, but he's not the kind of powerful center forward I personally like for the position. BTW, I am curious about Allan @Udinese. anyone here watched him much? Perhaps some of our resident Brazilians will know more about him. I find Allan a fascinating young player who hasn't caught much attention yet (but I would guess Juventus would take him in a second). Would be a good price for a guy who knows how to disrupt the opposition attack with his positioning and aggression. young, very affordable. Allan seems to be the kind of player that I love, but I haven't seen him play enough just yet. an all-around footballer with good mental upside.

there is surely some way in which Chelsea can pay off a portion of Torres' contract while tempting him with a return to Atletico. maybe he just wants the money; maybe not. maybe he would like to return to Atletico though. take a pay cut, Chelsea pays off some of his contract, Atletico pay the rest, they get Courtois for another 2 years, and Chelsea get the option to buy Costa. yea, we can dream.

Hazard probably will not be rested, but Salah could break Villa; that's why I offered this. Playing 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1 (doesn't matter what the front three do) would be a good choice but I think the advanced midfielder is set-up to create something that Chelsea's fullbacks and other center midfielders have not been able to create.

play 433 with Matic, Oscar, and Frank in CM, use Eto'o, Salah and Willian, try to spring Salah loose. give Hazard some rest. I know this will not happen; I'm just offering an alternative.

Aston Villa a good banana peel. but before we get to that, I think we should revel in this for a while (Spurs argued for TWO HOURS after defeat at the Bridge): http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/tottenham-squad-argued-two-hours-3235017#ixzz2vn8XhxbK

a "miracle" relates to a supernatural event.

the next miracle at CFC needs to be getting rid of Torres before his contract expires in about 22 months.

Kyle Walker ran rampant in front of Lampard the 1st half while Chelsea couldn't get the ball up the pitch or connect and maintain possession in transition. 2nd half, I fell asleep very early with the feeling we would win this. woke a few times to see replays of goals. good enough for now. Chelsea responded to the challenge, Tottenham laid an egg. birds. as much as Schuerrle has a nice shot, I would prefer looking at the sight of Yaromalenko in Chelsea blue with also the possibility of S. Berahino ITF. I don't know who is responsible for the scouting of players in Europe at Chelsea, but I do know that Schuerrle and Marin are strange acquisitions and not ones I would have ever chosen. Still not as bad as 50 million on a Torres. derp.